Conveyors have been used in conjunction with sausage making machines. The conveyors generally have a horizontally disposed conveyor chain suspended on a frame with hook elements extending outwardly therefrom to receive loops of an encased sausage strand. One example is shown in U.S. Pat. No. 6,467,668 incorporated by reference herein in its entirety. The hooks move forward to an unloading area where the looped sausage strand is manually unloaded onto a smoke stick.
Several disadvantages are present with current conveyors. First, because they are manually unloaded, the process is labor intensive and more costly. Second, it is difficult to change or vary product spacing on the smoke stick to maximize smokestick loading and prevent blemishes from developing on the strand that results from contact. Accordingly, a need exists in the art for an improved conveyor system.
Therefore, a principal objective of the present invention is to provide a conveyor system that automatically unloads a looped strand of sausage.
A further object of the present invention is to provide a conveyor system that is more cost effective to use.
A still further objective of the present invention is to provide a conveyor system that easily and quickly changes product spacing on a smoke stick.
Another objective of the present invention is to provide a conveyor system having a plurality of pivotable hooks.
These and other objectives will be apparent to one skilled in the art based on the following written description.